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#2
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Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you. Though I am wondering what the air temp at the plants is. I have a feeling if you think it might be an issue, it probably is to high (even if it is not the problem). I would vent the heat out to eliminate it as an issue anyway. Pepper plants like warm climates but I wouldn't want the temp to get much above 80 degrees. I also would make sure the nutrient solution's temp was between 68 and 72 degrees consistently. Then check the pH level daily and change the nutrient solution once a week at least until they were looking healthy. These things I would just do anyway, I don't know if it will solve the problem but it should eliminate them as a problem.
Last edited by GpsFrontier; 09-09-2009 at 06:07 PM. |
#3
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#4
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i just changed the nutrient water and it did feel like the water was a little on the warm side. i will have to buy an aquarium thermometer soon so i can check it for sure. what if the water is too warm? how can i cool it? it would be kind of hard to do in a 2x4ft grow tent.
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#5
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#6
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that is my setup. i think the water is getting warm because the buckets are black. i thought about spray painting them white but that would cause a disaster because i would have to wait for the paint to dry and i have nowhere to put the plants in the meantime. also, if i paint the lids i am afraid of the paint chipping and getting in to the water. i think the best way would be to use a white bucket and use some sort of black plastic liner inside... or maybe even just cover the bucket with a white plastic bag instead of painting it. i would need to keep the whole setup within the tent as there is no room in my house for this (my parents would kill me) and i cannot move it outside (they will kill me again). the air temp of where the reservoir is stored is 27C, the same temp as where i measured the temp at plant/bucket level. the only difference with my setup and the pic is i have moved the ballast outside the tent. |
#7
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a mercury thermometer should be OK. 80 degrees should be OK for the air temp.
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Because the nutrients need to remain inside the tent and from the picture I don't think you can use geothermal energy because you said it is not inside but it's not outside ether, so I assume there is some sort of floor. Assuming you have a single reservoir feeding all 4 plants I would try to generate your own geothermal energy. I would use a inexpensive Styrofoam ice chest (thicker is better). Get a copper coil splice it into the line you run from the pump to the plants. Set the copper coil into the Styrofoam chest, then fill the chest with Ice water. That way when the pump turns on, it pumps the nutrients through the coils submerges in the ice water cooling it down before it reaches the plants. You will probably need to change the ice water daily but if the nutrients are not excessively hot, that would probably do the trick. You could also use a plastic or vinyl tube for the coil but metal will transfer the heat better. |
#8
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#9
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i just stuck my finger in the nutes in each bucket and they are cool to the touch. i think i just need to vent the warm air from the fan somewhere but i havent decided where yet. there is a small window near by but if i used that then the fan would be sucking out all the heat during our frigid winter (and air conditioning during the summer).
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#10
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During the summer, if the room the tent is located in has a central heating and ac vent and your parents don't mind, you may be able to utilize that source for the cool air. The lights give off heat and there is nothing that you can do to change that unless you get different lights, so that heat needs to go somewhere. If you can use the AC for cool air during the summer then you can vent the exhaust out the window, though I think that the lights would genorate much more heat than you can get rid of. You may need to still use a system like I described in the other post as well as insulate each bucket and the reservoir to achieve the right water temp. Again, I know that you want to keep everything inside the tent. But if you could talk your parents into letting you keep the plants outside, you could use the free sunlight for light, and just keep the nutrient holding tank inside the window. Then just run the feed and return lines through the window. You would need to keep the plants above the window level so gravity will bring the nutrients back inside the window, otherwise you would need another pump for that. You will still need to do something to cool the nutrients down but you wont be heating up the room the tent is in and wasting all that AC, as well as saving all that electricity the lights and fans would be using. (NOTE: you will need to insulate the buckets the plants are in to help keep the root zone cool. If the nutrient solution is cool the root zone will be cool.) |
#11
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running the lines through my windows would mean i would have to cut holes in the screens and i would get shot for that. the only way i would be about to do an outdoor system is if i put the reservoir outside. i think i know how i can do it... i can put the reservoir under my deck! i just need to find the plans to build a nice system (possibly NFT?) |
#12
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Sorry, I just read this post. This wouldn't change what I have described for the winter though it defiantly does for the summer. For this you could use a system like the coils and Styrofoam that I described earlier, but you would need to run a separate feed and drain line to and from each bucket. You would also need a serge tank for the pump and to run the lines from. I will need to draw it out because it is kind of confusing to explain. Though I would seriously consider changing the design so that all the plants were using the same nutrients. For that you would just need a base container big enough to support the plants and wide enough for the plant spacing keeping in mind the size of full grown plants. Make the holes where needed, paint it if needed. Then it should only take you a few minuets to transfer the nutrients, plants and air stones to the new base container. This will also make it much simpler to design the coils and Styrofoam cooling system if still needed, as well as changing the nutrients out.
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#13
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Last edited by GpsFrontier; 09-10-2009 at 06:36 PM. |
#14
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#15
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Great, I would love to help. When growing outside weather is a factor. Their are some things you can do like cover it with a plastic tarp to keep frost out, and shade cloth during summer to help block the suns heat. Also winter can be tricky because some plants don't do well in cold claimants. The short daylight hours can be a problem also. Though you can use lights, and turn them on 1-2 hours before the sun comes up and again just before it goes down to extend the daylight hours. If you send me a private message I can give you my personal e-mail or you can just use the e-mail address on the contact us page of the home hydro systems website. It's a temporary one right now but I do check it about once a day. I plan to have the permanent one setup within the next week.
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#16
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